Bicycling on roads is scary and dangerous. Motor vehicles come too close when passing. They turn into the bicycle's path at intersections. Motorists show impatience. Some bicyclists are frightened, injured and killed.
Some experts advise bicyclists to “take the lane,” positioning the bicycle so it occupies the full traffic lane, like other slow-moving vehicles. This helps, but motorists still have difficulty seeing the bicycle in the middle of the lane. They cannot easily determine its location, speed and direction. They underestimate how much space the bicyclist needs to feel comfortable, driving into narrow lanes along side the bicycle.
Existing bicycle safety systems do not fix these problems. Flags, reflectors, narrow-beam LED headlights and flashing lights are inherently hard to see or dazzling or disorienting. In daylight, the lights are not big or bright enough. A single headlight or tail light does not provide the two steady, separated light points needed to determine the bicycle's position and motion. Lights are typically too low, small or dim to catch motorists' attention. The lights or extensions are not wide enough to keep motorists from crowding into the bicyclist's lane.
The present inventor modified an existing nightlight in about 1973 so that two bright four-inch round lights extended from handlebars on both sides of the bicycle. He used the lights in daytime as well as night. The handlebar lights were deficient because, among other reasons, they moved whenever the handlebars were turned and because they were too low to shine directly at motorists. Recently, he discovered that these problems were fixed by moving the lights to the position described for these embodiments. (That discovery was within one year of filing his provisional patent application; this application does not cover lights on handlebars or recumbent seat rails.)